The present invention relates to sailboats and, in particular, to sailboat accessories.
More particularly, the invention relates to boat hooks and to whisker poles.
Most water craft, motor boats or sailboats carry a boat hook for "fending off", "picking up" moorings, or hooking into other floating objects. Such a hook is usually in the form of a light spar or pole of a length that is convenient to handle manually.
In addition, sailboats rigged to fly a jib usually carry a whisker pole which also takes the form of a light, extensible spar or pole which is also convenient to handle manually. As is well known, a whisker pole is used in sailboats to make a connection between the clew cringle of a foresail and the mast to enable the foresail to work efficiently when sailing before the wind, i.e., from a beam reach to fully before the wind, especially when the wind is light and variable, to keep the foresail from collapsing.
Representative examples of prior art boat hooks are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 179,127 issued June 27, 1876; 1,852,629 issued Apr. 1932; 3,918,385 issued Nov. 11, 1975 and 4,037,554 issued July 26, 1977.
These patents show, in one fashion or another, manually operable light weight spars fitted with bumpers, hooks, catches and loops for fending off and for snatching mooring buoys.
While these units are operable and have utility their usefulness is limited to the functions described. When not in use boat hooks must be stowed securely, usually on deck, so as to be available on short notice.
In addition, storage space on small boats particularly small sailboats is at a premium.
The need for a small sailboat with a foresail to carry both a boat hook and a separate whisker pole places an undue burden upon the availability of deck or hull storage space.